Temur Iakobashvili and Boris Chochiev, the chief Georgian and South Ossetian negotiators, respectively, will meet on August 8 in Tskhinvali, Yuri Popov, the chief Russian negotiator over South Ossetia, said on Thursday.

“We managed to reach an agreement about holding a meeting tomorrow at 1pm through the mediation of the Russian Federation,” Interfax quoted Popov as saying.

He made his remarks after meeting Chochiev and Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, in Tskhinvali.

Popov said meeting would not be held in the frames of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC).

A meeting between the Georgian and South Ossetian negotiators in the presence of Popov was initially scheduled for August 7 in Tskhinvali, but the South Ossetian side refused to take part, saying that it would agree to talks only in the frames of the JCC.

While the Russian diplomat said the meeting on August 8 would not be held in the frames of the JCC, he also said that the JCC remained the only effective format for negotiations.

The Russian negotiator said that the sides would discuss the current situation in the conflict zone and try to agree on a ceasefire.